Candidate sorry for past e-mail about gays

Council hopeful calls 2006 writing 'hurtful'

San Diego City Council candidate Lorie Zapf has apologized for past comments in which she said “homosexuality is a sin” and that she wanted to keep gays out of public office.

A relative unknown, Zapf is distinguishing herself from the five-candidate field to replace outgoing Councilwoman Donna Frye, but not in the way she intended.

In a June 6, 2006, e-mail to anti-gay activist James Hartline, Zapf said, “I absolutely want to keep homosexuals out of public office and not be allowed to influence our schools, textbooks, altering marriage, children and on and on.”

Hartline said he distributed the e-mail to media outlets this week because Zapf was not living up to his anti-gay standards.

In an interview Wednesday, Zapf said she didn’t remember writing the e-mail until it was presented to her a few days ago by San Diego CityBeat magazine. She said her comments were focused on gay activists, not gays in general.

“I chose my words poorly because clearly I don’t believe that gays should be kept from office because I have supported and endorsed candidates who are gay, strongly and publicly,” Zapf said. “Have you ever had an e-mail that you sent that, you know, pops up years later, and it was a hastily written e-mail? … My words were hurtful.”

Zapf, 51, who describes herself as a center-right Republican, is a regional director for California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, a group that advocates for legal reform. Previously, she started a health-food business and later sold it.

Her e-mail exchange with Hartline came after he was critical of former council candidate Judy Riddle’s support of Mayor Jerry Sanders, a strong gay-rights proponent. Zapf, who at one time attended the same Mission Valley church as Hartline, volunteered for Riddle’s unsuccessful 2006 campaign against Frye.

In defending Riddle, Zapf related some of her own beliefs.

“I do believe homosexuality is a sin,” Zapf wrote. “I have three homosexual first cousins. I love them all and would ‘be seen’ in a photo with them. I believe they all live in sin and frankly all are very unhappy people and had horrible childhoods as well.”

She added later, “For whatever reason God allowed people to choose homosexuality. So, there must be a reason for it, although I don’t get it, like so may (sic) other things that don’t make sense.”

Chris Crotty, a Democratic political consultant who is not involved in the District 6 council race, said that Zapf’s explanation is likely to ring hollow with voters.

“That is not the type of thing that you pontificate about if you haven’t thought about it,” Crotty said. “It’s not the type of thing you say if you don’t believe it.”

The district stretches from Clairemont and Kearny Mesa to Serra Mesa and Mission Valley. The other candidates for the June 8 election are retired businessman Doug Beckham; Steve Hadley, Frye’s chief of staff; salesman Ryan Huckabone; and Howard Wayne, a longtime California deputy attorney general and former state Assemblyman.

Hartline, who describes himself as a former homosexual and now a devout Christian, often rails against gay issues and candidates. He said he shared the e-mails with media outlets to expose Zapf as “a total and complete fraud” as a Christian because she told church groups while campaigning that she opposes same-sex marriage yet tells others she supports gay rights.

Zapf said her actions — hiring gay employees and supporting gay candidates, such as Councilman Carl DeMaio and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis — speak louder than her words.

Sanders condemned Zapf’s e-mail remarks but said no one knows better than he does how attitudes change over time, as evidenced by his tearful switch to support gay marriage in 2007.

“I’m probably not in the best position to be judging others about that,” Sanders said. “I would take Lorie at her word that that was four years ago and that she’s changed her position on that and I’d be willing to accept that.”

Zapf said she doesn’t understand why her past comments were newsworthy.

“This is what keeps good people from running for office,” she said. “Everyone’s got something. It’s going to be a little sentence plucked out, taken out of context … and then used against me to try to destroy me and my family.”

Zapf said voters should note that Hartline’s anger stems from her support of gays.

“The irony is that James Hartline, of all people, who is so rabidly anti-gay, is trying to hurt me because I’m not,” she said. “He doesn’t think I’m anti-gay enough. I’m not at all.”